On Western ‘sanctions’

So, what is a sanction? Depending on the dictionary, this word may be defined as:

- Action by one or more states toward another state calculated to force it to comply with legal obligations.

Or as:

- A coercive measure, especially one taken by one or more states against another guilty of violating international law.

But we did not need to resort to the dictionary to understand that the word sanction implies the existence of at least two subjects, the sanctioner (A) and the sanctioned (B), plus an object (C): a law or rule to which A ...